Friday, September 24, 2010

ANG BAHAY FIRE STATION

Supposing you are the owner of a business establishment applying for an FSIC, have you tried visiting a fire station for your FSIC where it is also a home for a family with kids? Supposing there is a fire and you want to call the nearest fire station, would you be able to locate a fire station when it is actually a real home of a family in a community and not the usual fire station?

In Datu Odin Sinsuat, Province of Maguindanao, ARMM this is so. You will be calling for help from a group of on duty firefighters of the BFP from a very small shed beside a single-room family dwelling situated on a roadside where the fire hoses and other equipment just lie beside the wooden house wall. This is the home of FO3 Datuilo U Mayasa, firetruck operator. In a house with corrugated sheets for a roof and wood for walls, a small tarpaulin with small prints announces to the public at large that the house is also the Office of the Municipal Fire Marshal of Datu Odin Sinsuat and the fire station of eleven (11) BFP personnel manning a 200-gallon firetruck.

Datu Odin Sinsuat Fire Station was previously housed beside the municipal hall in a concrete building with proper signage. In time by reason of depreciation the building needed repairs and the local government wanted the BFP to have its share on the renovation before the LGU can share their own. Through time the requests were lost in the deluge of paperworks at the BFP and through time the Datu Odin Sinsuat Fire Station continued to decline and become decrepit until the roof collapsed, making it uninhabitable.

SFO3 Romy S Sampiano, the Municipal Fire Marshal, was in a quandary on what to do and where to place his men and equipment and how to continue the mandated tasks of a firefighter despite of the unfortunate outcome of his station. FO3 Mayasa, whose house is a just a few kilometres away and situated along the highway, offered his humble abode to house the firetruck and equipment and, together with his fellow co-workers, built a small shed the size of a manager’s table beside his house just so the BFP operations personnel on duty will have some roof over their head against the rain and sun. How they slept is left to your imagination. FO3 Mayasa is a BS Commerce graduate from the Philippine Harvardian College of Cotabato City. He is a Civil Service Professional eligibility holder and entered service on October 1, 1997. He is a member of Alpha Phi Omega International Service Fraternity. The fraternity’s cardinal principles of Leadership, Friendship and Service have created bridges between races, creed, religions and country through its service-oriented activities. The reason why there are Muslim brothers as much as Christian ones in and outside the Bureau.

FO3 Mayasa’s act of offering his home has been a great service to the BFP and to the people of Datu Odin Sinsuat. It is a service that cannot be repaid by a mere commendation. The Bureau and the community will forever be grateful to FO3 Mayasa and to his ten (10) comrades at Datu Odin Sinsuat Fire Station for continuing the mandated tasks despite the odds and for bridging the gap between the shortcomings of the BFP and the LGU and the service that should be delivered to the community.

The Fate of Datu Odin Sinsuat Fire Station is now in the hands of the authorities. The officers and personnel of BFP-ARMM is one in hope that this languishing and inhabitable fire station will be reconstructed in the near future knowing that the eleven (11) BFP personnel assigned there are steadfast in their desire to serve the community. This is the story of Ang Bahay Fire Station.